Baseball sized hail on 3 week old BC. waaa

FINAL UPDATE: ONLY 4 MONTHS AFTER THIS POST WE FINALLY GOT OUR RV OUT OF THE SHOP YESTERDAY, YEA I SAID 4 MONTHS. WHAT AN ORDEAL. NOW TO FIX THE STUFF THAT WERE NOT FIXED RIGHT AT THE REPAIR DEALER. UGG, WHAT WAS I GONNA DO LEAVE TILL NEXT SPRING AND HAVE THEM RE-FIX WHAT THEY COULD NOT FIX THE FIRST TIME???? NO....WE WILL JUST TRY TO FIX STUFF AND MOVE ON AND TRY TO FORGET IT. I WILL DO WAY MORE RESEARCH ABOUT WHO DOES REPAIRS "IF" THERE IS EVER A NEED FOR REPAIRS AGAIN. PRAYING THAT WILL NEVER BE THE CASE AGAIN. CAN U SAY STRESS.....


UPDATE: We are on our way back to camping. Insurance (Alfa Rocks, by the way), has moved quickly and we will be getting repairs started as soon as the parts are ordered and come in!!


Ok, I know we were lucky and I am not complaining "to much" about this, because I know that others had it far worse than us.

However, I do still have this problem to deal with. We have lots of damage to the roof, driver side lower panels and cargo door, lites out and skylites,, and a hole in one slide awning.
I have not a clue what is the best way to go about repairs.
We already talked with insurance company, got an estimate (over 8800.)
A veteran camper in the campground said, "make them send it back to the factory to fix it", and then he walked away!!
Well........how do I do that?
And........is that the best way to go?
And........who do I contact at the factory?
And........does the factory even do that?
And........any advice here would be helpful.

Anita and Wayne,

So sorry about the damage to your RV.

I wanted to let you know that Heartland does not have a service center at the factory. It is true that on occasion, we have taken coaches back to the plant for repairs, but these have primarily been units that required repairs that Heartland was covering the cost on.

That said, there are several service centers in Elkhart that are excellent. One of them, RV Capital Service Center is Heartland authorized for warranty work. While yours is not warranty, point being that they are well certified to work on our products.

If I were you however, I would look for the best RV repair center near you. It could minimize the downtime and you would be able to see it before you paid for the work. Bear in mind also that very few items on your coach are proprietary to Heartland. Meaning a decent repair shop can access most of the parts needed from a few sources.

I do suggest you consider contacting Heartland Customer Service (877-262-8032) to see if they can give you a couple of contacts in your area for this sort of repair work.

I don't see where you mention your dealer name/location but they would also be a great resource to contact.

Best of luck to you on getting your unit back in shape and back on the road to Happy Camping.

Jim Beletti

Thanks Jim for such a fast reply. The place we have an estimate from is local, but authorized Heartland warranty dealer. North Alabama RV.(he was at the campground giving estimates so we got him to do ours).
We bought our BC from RV's for Less in Knoxville. I do plan to talk with them also before we do anything.
Thanks for the help.
Here is a link to some of the storm that was just a mile or so from us. You can see why I can't complain to much, but I know there are headaches ahead until this is resolved.
link to storm photos:
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2009/04/slideshow_tornado_damage_at_la.html Make sure to scroll thru the pics to see the campers floating in the river. It was such a sad day.

Thanks for the link. I saw similar pictures from a post on RV.net earlier today. I looked carefully at those to see if there were any Heartland units and couldn't see any. Now to hear that your was among them - well, sorry that it happened to anyone, but really hate to see a Heartland family member go through this. Thankfully no one in the campground was killed or even seriously injured, based on what I read earlier today.

Jim

BTT: Update!!

UPDATE: We are on our way back to camping. Insurance (Alfa Rocks, by the way), has moved quickly and we will be getting repairs started as soon as the parts are ordered and come in!!

BTT: another update

I am really sad to update that we are still waiting to have our camper repaired and after so many delays, I have lost hope.
Looks like we will not be camping any time soon.
I am so down and I am usually a very "no problem, it'll all work out" kind of person.

I need my frown turned upside down.

Anita and Wayne,

I spoke to Heartland Customer Service yesterday. Here is what I learned:

• Huge order
• Placed on 5/18/09
• Shipped on 6/8/09
• Insurance job, not warranty

These are just facts and not meant as any consolation or to lay blame anywhere. Only a completed unit would be satisfying at this point.

So it looks like it took 21 days for the parts to be ordered by Heartland, crated and shipped. Probably a week to get to your dealer - maybe by mid-June. Then the rest is up to the dealer chosen to do the insurance job.

Again, this is sad for sure. I hope they get it done soon for you so you can salvage some of your summer using it.

Jim

Jim, thanks for checking on that for us. I knew the parts were there, and it is a dealer problem with the insurance repairs. I guess I just needed some sympathy.
Thanks again,
Anita